Aztecs brace for Duke, er, Eastern Washington

MIKE SULLIVAN

Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- It has all the makings of a trap. San Diego Stateis coming off two impressive men's basketball victories and has agame at top-ranked Duke on Dec. 29. In other words, the table isset for Eastern Washington to sneak into Cox Arena tonight andleave with a victory.

And it's not as if that's unfathomable under normal
circumstances. The Eagles pulled off a shocking upset of then-No.
10 St. Joseph's on Nov. 15 and enjoyed a 16-point halftime lead
against Gonzaga earlier this month before losing in overtime.

So while the Eagles are 5-5 and coming off back-to-back losses
to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the University of Portland, they
are a team the Aztecs (6-3) can't afford to overlook.

"That's what the coaches have been preaching," senior swingmanBrandon Smith said. "That's what they talked about (Monday).Eastern Washington is a good team. They were ahead of Gonzaga by 17and took them into overtime, so they're a good team. There's no waywe can overlook them.

"We're not good enough to overlook Eastern Washington to say
we're getting ready for Duke. We're definitely not that good, and
we can't take this team lightly. I'm getting ready for Eastern
Washington, not Duke."

The Aztecs enter tonight's game full of confidence. In less than
one week, San Diego State pulled off a rare victory over a ranked
opponent -- the upset of No. 21 Fresno State was just its second
such win in the past 14 seasons -- and rallied for a rare comeback
road victory against a Hawaii squad that played in the NCAA
Tournament last March.

It was the type of double seldom seen by a program with only one
season above .500 since 1985.

"It's a big step up from where we have been in recent historyover the last couple of years," Aztecs coach Steve Fisher said. "Ithought our defense in the Hawaii game was the best it's been allyear. To me, Hawaii is a tournament team. That was like playing thebest team in the Mountain West on the road and sneaking out awin.

"But it could all be for naught if we don't hold serve at
home."

The win at Hawaii was just the Aztecs' third in their past 42road contests. It was the first for junior guard Tony Bland in fourroad games since he transferred from Syracuse.

"I think it's a really big confidence booster," Bland said. "We
had to overcome a lot of things. We felt they were playing real
well the first half and we were playing real sloppy. Previous games
on the road, when we played like that we would just turn over. But
this game, we fought back and we showed a lot of character."